Saucon Schools ‘Continue to Perform Very Well,’ Superintendent Says

Saucon Valley school superintendent Monica McHale-Small discussed the recently-released Pennsylvania School Performance Profile scores at the school board’s Nov. 11 meeting, and said overall the elementary, middle and high schools “continue to perform very well,” recording some of the highest scores in Northampton County.

Saucon Valley Elementary School received a score of 84.4, Saucon Valley Middle School received a score of 81.1 and Saucon Valley High School received a score of 88.9 from the state.

According to an article published by the Express-Times, a score of 70 or better out of a maximum of 100 is generally considered a good score by state officials, and all three Saucon Valley schools scored better than 80.

McHale-Small said that while the schools are currently in “high B” territory, she wants them to be in “A” territory.

“Our goal is to become an A school district and we will continue to work toward that goal,” she said.

“Not all of our students are growing the way they need to be growing, so we need to put some more effort there,” she added.

Although Saucon Valley High School received a relatively high SPP score of 88.9, it wasn’t high enough for it to retain the title of highest-scoring high school in Northampton County this year, which now belongs to Nazareth Area High School.

McHale-Small said Nazareth’s score was 90.9, and called Saucon’s drop to the number two position “disappointing.”

Part of the reason for the drop, she acknowledged, was an error in the way Saucon Valley High School’s 2014 graduation rate was calculated; an error that occurred because outdated data from 2012-2013 was applied to a complex formula used by the state.

An investigation revealed that the district itself missed the deadline to submit the new data needed to accurately calculate this year’s score by last December, she said.

“We probably didn’t check every single box…that we needed to take,” McHale-Small said.

McHale-Small wasn’t at the helm of the school district when the deadline was missed. She was hired over the summer to replace Sandra Fellin, who retired after a decade as superintendent.

Board member Susan Baxter said the error may inadvertently help Saucon rebound next year, since the application of the correct data this year will demonstrate continued growth; a school performance characteristic the state rewards.

For that same reason, she noted, it will be difficult for any school to remain at the top of the heap from year-to-year.

In addition to the issue with the high school’s graduation data, McHale-Small also noted during her report that high school biology scores showed indications of not meeting the growth level that should be seen, and that “math growth is…an area of concern” at the middle school.